The IPL newsletter: Volume 19, Issue 394

Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence to Transition to New Frontiers in Research Fund

Government of Canada
In Budget 2018, the Government of Canada called for changes to streamline and modernize programs in support of research. It also proposed an historic investment of nearly $4 billion in Canada’s scientists and researchers. The government’s major investment includes the creation of a New Frontiers in Research Fund, which will support international, interdisciplinary, fast-breaking and higher-risk research. The Fund, valued at $275 million over five years and $65 million per year thereafter, will be open to researchers and networks of researchers across all disciplines. Funding for the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program will be gradually transferred to this new fund over the next several years. During this transition period:

• Successful applicants in the current NCE program and Knowledge Mobilization competitions will be awarded up to five-year non-renewable grants.
• The networks anticipating a renewal competition in 2018-2019 will be invited to apply for a final three-year grant.
• Currently-funded networks will continue to be funded until the end date of their grant. No further opportunities will be available through the NCE Program.

The government recognizes that NCEs have made significant contributions to the research and innovation landscape. As reflected in its historic investments in research, the government remains committed to continuing to support Canadian researchers and collaborative networks of researchers.

NY Regional Councils awarded more than $20 million for TBED, $763 million overall

SSTI Weekly Digest
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced more than $763 million for economic development projects throughout the state as part of the regional economic development council (REDC) competition. The program, which tasks leaders in 10 regions to determine economic development priorities, has awarded more than $6.1 billion across 7,300 projects since its inception in 2011. In each region, funding went toward projects such as infrastructure, main street revitalization, feasibility studies, strategic planning, microenterprise funds, and workforce development. Of the total amount distributed this year, more than $20 million went to projects related to technology-based economic development. A (non-exhaustive) list of New York projects related to technology-based economic development receiving funding in this most recent round can be found below, while a full list of awarded projects can be found here.

The Task Ahead of Us: Transforming the Global Economy with Connectivity, Automation, and Intelligence

Robert D. Atkinson, ITIF
Economies are complex production systems with myriad subcomponent production systems—that is, industries—from manufacturing to health care to retail. What and how these production systems produce is grounded in technology. So, as technologies change, production systems change—around the world. Today, the most important and widely shared technologies are digital information technologies that have evolved from the mainframe and mini-computing systems of the 1960s and 70s. They include an array of personal computing devices, back-office servers, IT-embedded machines, and cloud-based services that are connected or dynamically provisioned to users over private networks or the Internet. But the world is now beginning to transform into a new kind of digital system, one that will not only build on existing devices and systems, but also increasingly will incorporate emerging technologies such as sensors, robotics, and artificial intelligence as they improve in price and performance. This next digital economy will be significantly more connected (with many more things, and many more types of things networked, including in more advanced wireless and wireline networks), more automated (as devices and systems enable more work to be done by machines), and smarter (as algorithms play increasingly important roles in sensing—and making sense of—all this). Perhaps the most important economic policy question for any nation or region is whether and to what extent its policies are focused on overcoming obstacles and aspiring to be a leader in the next wave of digital evolution. Those that choose to do so will benefit from more competitive industries and a more prosperous economy.

A Grand Bargain for Data Privacy Legislation for America

Alan McQuinn and Daniel Castro, ITIF
This report focuses on potential federal data privacy legislation for private-sector data processing. It does not address government access to data or restrictions on government use of data. It proposes a grand bargain, in which Congress repeals existing federal data privacy laws, such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA), and replaces them with a single federal data privacy law that preempts state laws. The new federal law would establish a common set of federal protections for all types of data based on the sensitivity of the data and the context in which it is collected. This report also proposes to improve consumer protections by enhancing transparency requirements for business practices, and, establishing a set of clear basic rights for Americans. This report also proposes improving enforcement by granting regulators the appropriate authority to update and enforce rules while ensuring they have the proper constraints to protect industry from regulatory overreach and overzealous enforcement. In this way, its proposals will incentivize companies to focus less on check-the-box compliance and more on reducing actual consumer harm. This report also looks beyond U.S. borders, proposing how a data privacy law could facilitate data sharing abroad without simply acceding to demands from other countries or regions on how to protect data. And most importantly, it offers recommendations for how federal data privacy legislation can promote innovation and beneficial data collection, use, and sharing to ensure consumers continue to benefit from the growing digital economy, including services supported by targeted digital advertising.

NSF: States’ increase R&D spending; surpasses $2.5 billion in FY 2017

SSTI Weekly Digest
States invested $1.1 billion into health-related R&D expenditures in FY 2017 according to the newest results from the annual survey of state government R&D, conducted by the National Science Foundation.  Increasing by 13 percent from the previous year, health-related R&D helped push overall state government spending on R&D up by 7 percent over the 2016 figures. State investments in energy-related R&D, on the other hand, dropped by 16.6 percent ($61 million) to a total of $307 million in FY 2017.

Useful Stats: State government investments in R&D, 2012-2017

SSTI Weekly Digest
Every state government invested at least $1.0 million in research and development in FY 2017, according to recent data from the National Science Foundation’s National Center for Science and Education Statistics. During the three-year period from FY 2015 to FY 2017, California ($551.8 million per year), New York ($403.2 million per year), and Texas ($244.9 million per year) state governments averaged the most R&D expenditures. In FY 2017, these three states accounted for 49.8 percent of the national total, up from 45.6 percent of the total invested by state governments in 2012.

CFP: WICK#6 PhD Workshop: Economics of Innovation, Complexity and Knowledge

Turin, Italy, 9-10 January, 2019
The main topics the workshop will cover are Economics of Knowledge and Innovation, with a special focus on Firm and Regional Innovation Strategies, Economics of Science, Green Innovation, Smart cities, and Energy policy. Sessions will be methodologically heterogeneous. Econometric contributions, as well as Complex Network Analysis and computational methods, such as Agent-Based Models, are very welcome. The event will feature keynote contributions from Prof. Massimo Riccaboni (IMT Lucca and KU Leuven), Dr. Giovanni Marin (University of Urbino) and Dr. Ernest Miguelez (CNRS and GREThA, University of Bordeaux).

Changing the Tone of the Debate: Productivity Insights Network Conference 2019

Sheffield, England, 13 March, 2019
Raising productivity is a central economic challenge in the UK. The Productivity Insights Network (PIN) conference will bring together researchers, policymakers, intermediaries and businesses working to identify, advance and implement new insights to address the productivity puzzle in the UK. Join us for an engaging day of talks and panel discussions.

Workshop Series on Migration, Globalization and the Knowledge Economy

Utrecht, Netherlands, 16-17 May, 2019
The workshop will consist of a 2-day plenary session with presentations and discussions, and two keynote speakers. The keynote speakers of the Utrecht workshop will be Ina Ganguli, from University of Massachusetts, and Ufuk Akcigit, from the University of Chicago. We aim to attract both senior and junior scholars dealing with research topics such as the role of high-skilled migration in fostering innovation in receiving countries, the relationship between diversity and innovation, the role of skilled diasporas and return migrants in diffusing knowledge back to their home countries, the emerging role of MNC in shaping scientists’ and engineers’ migration flows as well as temporary migration and knowledge sharing, migration and innovation-based start-ups formation, regions and mobility, and so forth.

The 13th Workshop on THE ORGANISATION, ECONOMICS AND POLICY OF SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH

Bordeaux, France, 20-21 May, 2019
We aim to attract contributions from both junior and senior scholars; a minimum number of slots are reserved for junior researchers (PhD students or postdoc scholars who obtained their PhD in 2016 or later). Up to 18 papers will be selected from open submissions on the basis of peer review. Contributions are invited on (but not limited to) one or more of the following topics:

• The evaluation of science policy
• Organising research activities in universities, PROs and private R&D labs
• Spillovers from scientific research
• Role of gender and family in scientific research
• Science research networks and collaboration
• Scientific careers and mobility

Deadline for the submission of papers or extended abstracts (min 3 pages) is January 31st 2019. Submissions should be previously unpublished works. All submissions are reviewed with respect to novelty, academic quality and relevance.

CFP: 2019 University-Industry Interaction Conference

Helsinki, Finland, 18-20 June, 2019
This key event for university leaders, practitioners from both business and university, policymakers and educators attracts more than 500 participants from over 60 countries to interact, share knowledge and establish new relationships. During this three-day event, you will encounter presentations from over 100 organisations, tour innovation spaces, have access to a wide variety of workshops and participate in numerous networking opportunities to gain new insights into the bigger picture of university-industry interaction.

DRUID19 

Copenhagen, Denmark, 19-21 June, 2019
Since 1996, DRUID has become one of the world’s premier academic conferences on innovation and the dynamics of structural, institutional and geographic change. DRUID is proud to invite senior and junior scholars to participate and contribute with a paper to DRUID19, hosted by Copenhagen Business School. Presenting distinguished plenary speakers, a range of parallel paper sessions, and an attractive social program, the conference aims at mapping theoretical, empirical and methodological advances, contributing novel insights, and help identifying scholarly positions, divisions, and common grounds in current scientific controversies within the field. Keynotes delivered by top scholars from innovation studies, management, economic geography, and numerous other research fields. Plenary speakers at DRUID19 include Stefano Brusoni, Dimo Dimov, Nijanlana Dutt, Annabel Gawer, Martine Haas, Adam B. Jaffe, Michael G. Jacobides, Sarah Kaplan and Dan Levinthal.

The 2019 Technology Transfer Society Annual Conference

Toronto, 26-28 September, 2019
The Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy and the Technology Transfer Society would like to invite you to submit a paper* to the 2019 Technology Transfer Conference. The main themes of the Conference will revolve around technology transfer and innovation policy, technology commercialization and entrepreneurship (with a focus on universities), and inclusive innovation. Submissions featuring longitudinal and historical studies, ideally using mixed-methods research are particularly encouraged. Submissions based on other methods are also welcome. For more information on how to submit an abstract, visit the Call for Papers page.

Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy

Atlanta, GA, 14-17 October, 2019
The Atlanta Conference on Science and Innovation Policy provides a showcase for the highest quality scholarship addressing the multidimensional challenges and interrelated characteristics of science and innovation policy and processes.